Trade and investment will be on the agenda when Prime Minister Tony Abbott meets his Canadian counterpart Stephen Harper in Ottawa.

Mr Abbott will wrap up his visit to France with Sunday Mass at Notre Dame cathedral before heading to Canada.

He will be the first Australian leader to visit Ottawa since 2006.

The Abbott and Harper governments have much in common, treading cautiously on climate policy and having economies heavily reliant on the resources industry.

Climate protesters who gathered outside the parliament in Ottawa on Saturday were well aware of the Abbott government’s policy of scrapping the carbon tax and other climate programs.

Regulations on Canada’s largest oil and gas emitters have yet to be released, seven years after they were first discussed.

“Australia is on the frontline in terms of climate change,” Cool It for the Kids spokeswoman Gaye Taylor told AAP.

“You are facing worse bushfires and floods.”

One of the protesters from the group For Our Grandchildren told AAP: “Abbott and Harper are like Siamese twins when it comes to climate change. It’s tragic.”

The protesters sang a song by Australian composer Glyn Lehmann called “I am the earth”.

Mr Harper’s spokesman said the Trans-Pacific Partnership – a 12-nation deal to set up an Asia-Pacific free trade area – would be on the agenda, as well as security issues.

Trade Minister Andrew Robb, who will also be visiting Canada and the United States with a business delegation, told AAP he believed the TPP could be concluded by the end of 2015.

Mr Abbott finished the official part of his visit to France holding talks with President Francois Hollande.

Mr Hollande expressed his nation’s “deep appreciation” for Australia’s sacrifices in defending France during two world wars, while a range of global and regional issues were covered.

He briefed Mr Abbott on recent high-level diplomacy regarding the situation in Ukraine.

They discussed developments in the South China Sea and intelligence and security co-operation in responding to the threat posed by fighters returning from Syria.

The pair also spoke about the G20 summit in November, when Mr Hollande will become the first French president to visit Australia.

Earlier on Saturday, Mr Abbott travelled to the Western Front, visiting World War I memorials at Villers-Bretonneux, Pozieres and Thiepval.

Following his visit to Canada, Mr Abbott will travel to New York and Washington DC where he will meet with US President Barack Obama.

The prime minister will also meet with key US economic policy makers including Reserve Bank governor Janet Yellen and US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, as well as US Secretary of State John Kerry, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and up and coming Republican and Democrat politicians.